Information Commissioner's Office

Health and Safety Executive

21 July 2008, Education (Other)

The complainant asked the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to tell him the names of those who had died as a result of incidents in the workplace which were reported to it. HSE refused, citing the section 44 exemption under the Act. HSE referred to: the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974; the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR); and, Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in conjunction with the Human Rights Act 1998. In later discussions with the Commissioner, HSE additionally relied on the section 21 and section 41 exemptions. The Commissioner found that HSE had not complied with sections 10 and 17 of the Act. He decided that the section 21, 41 and 44 exemptions were not engaged and that HSE should have provided to the complainant the information requested. The Commissioner invited HSE to respond favourably to such requests in the future but to provide the information not more frequently than at monthly intervals.

FOI 10: Upheld